General
Friday Briefing
Donald Trump’s sentencing on federal charges.
🇺🇸 U.S. ELECTION
The presidential election is less than two months away. This is what we’re watching.
Justice Juan Merchan has resisted many of Mr. Trump’s most audacious legal maneuvers, and has made clear his intention to be fair to the former president.Credit…Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times
A judge weighs a monumental Trump decision
More than three months since a Manhattan jury convicted Donald Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal, the former president has yet to be sentenced.
Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, delayed the sentencing after a Supreme Court ruling in July granted the former president some immunity. The judge now faces a decision that could alter American politics for years to come: whether to sentence Trump as planned on Sept. 18 or wait until after Election Day on Nov. 5, as Trump requested.
If Merchan postpones the sentencing, the American people will vote without knowing whether Trump will spend time behind bars. If not, Trump will undoubtedly accuse Merchan of trying to tip the election toward his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Here’s what else to know:
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A federal judge said she would not let Trump’s campaign affect the schedule of the criminal case in which he stands accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
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Swing state politics appeared to be sinking a global steel deal.
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The Justice Department indicted an American commentator for Russian television as part of an effort to crack down on Russia’s attempts to influence American politics.
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Trump called for the creation of an efficiency commission to audit the government. He said Elon Musk would lead it. Later, he claimed that Israel “would no longer exist” if Harris won.
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